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2018 Oakland Raiders: Where do we go from here?

By Jose Sanchez III

OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders looks to pass the ball against the Cleveland Browns at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 30, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders looks to pass the ball against the Cleveland Browns at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 30, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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DENVER, CO – SEPTEMBER 16: Quarterback Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders throws a pass during the first quarter of a game against the Denver Broncos at Broncos Stadium at Mile High on September 16, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – SEPTEMBER 16: Quarterback Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders throws a pass during the first quarter of a game against the Denver Broncos at Broncos Stadium at Mile High on September 16, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

Derek Carr’s performance

Analyzing Derek Carr’s performance this season was already a skewed one as it is. He’s learning yet again another system with some new faces around him in the huddle.

Now that Marshawn Lynch is out and Amari Cooper traded, Carr is in for a rough season. Even if Cooper wasn’t being targeted or producing he still was a threat to defenses. He garnered much of the attention for secondaries. Now the Raiders have no true number one receiver. This scenario is also being played at the running back position.

With no true starting running back, defenses will never respect the run. Running play action won’t be as successful and tiring out defenses is no longer apart of the game plan.

Carr now has to pull a rabbit out of his hat and turn water into wine at the same time just to manage a close victory. He was already a quarterback that needed a solid supporting cast to get the most out of him. Now it’s pretty much a wash for him too this season. It’s not that fair to judge him the rest of the way season.

It’s not like Jon Gruden has done him any favors with his play calling. Gruden himself even owned up that most of Carr’s errors were his fault. Oh wait… Gruden’s word means nothing. I forgot. We can pretty much assume Carr will be traded by the deadline, if not until the offseason.

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What we should be looking for out of Carr for the rest of the season is how he responds. How will he respond with so much criticism being thrown at him that he’s soft? That no one has his back? This Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts will be really telling coming off of a bye. He’s up against the ropes for the rest of this season.

He’s really going to have to step up and show to Gruden that he’s worth keeping. That’s demanding a lot out of him considering the lack of weapons at his disposal. However, that won’t matter to Gruden whose patience is razor thin. He’ll expect Carr to perform well even with the decrease in talent.

It took six games for Gruden to give up on Amari Cooper and one of them he didn’t even get a chance due to injury. How many games will it take before Gruden gives up on Carr? Being critical of Derek the rest of the season isn’t being too fair at this point.

We just need to key in on how he responds in the face of this great adversity that he’s in right now. Will he be able to rally the team around him and make something out of nothing? Or will he continue to have games that are defined by poor decisions?

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